Last semester, I spoke with a graduate student who was almost done writing his thesis and then--you guessed it--his computer crapped out on him! 

Unfortunately, he didn’t have a backup. His reasoning? "I’ve never backed up, not even as an undergrad and I never had a problem before.”

Above all, avoid the wishful thinking that because you’ve never had a virus, been a victim of ransomware attack, never driven your car over your computer, or had an untrained puppy pee on it that it could never happen to you.



Backing up your computer or phone doesn't have to take up a bunch of time. If manually backing works for you, great. If, however, it's one more thing that you don’t get around to doing, then set up an auto backup so it gets done while you sleep.

Two alternatives that require some effort but are better than nothing include Dropbox (might be free but might not be secure depending on your user plan), or SpiderOak (encrypted).



Just find a system that works for you, doesn't take much effort, and becomes a habit. It's one of those situations that your future self will thank you for if tragedy strikes.